Self-reported taste and smell alterations in patients under investigation for lung cancer

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow-chart of the recruiting and selection process.

Table I. Demographic and clinical characteristics of included patients.

	Primary lung cancer N (%)	No cancer N (%)	Total N (%)
Age
Mean; SD	68; 9	66; 10	67; 10
Gender
Women	63 (54)	43 (44)	106 (49)
Men	54 (46)	55 (56)	109 (51)
Education
Elementary school	23 (20)	17 (18)	40 (19)
High school	60 (51)	37 (38)	97 (45)
University	28 (24)	38 (39)	66 (31)
Other	6 (5)	5 (5)	11 (5)
Missing data	–	1	1
Smoking status
Smoker	49 (42)*	26 (27)	75 (35)
Former smoker	58 (50)*	42 (43)	100 (47)
Never smoker	10 (8)	29 (30)	39 (18)
Missing data	–	1	1
Tumor type
NSCLC^1	94 (80)	–	–
SCLC	8 (7)	–	–
Other^2	15 (13)	–	–
Disease stage
I-IIIA	58 (50)	–	–
IIIB-IV	58 (50)	–	–
Missing data	1	–	–

NSCLC, non-small cell lung cancer; SCLC, small cell lung cancer.

¹Includes adenocarcinoma, squamous cancer, adenosquamous cancer and other unspecified NSCLC.

²Includes carcinoids, mesothelioma, multiple tumors of different kinds and unverified tumors.

*P-value < 0.05.

Table II. Taste and smell alterations and lung cancer diagnosis in relation to demographical data, smoking status, oral problems and clinical characteristics.

	LC-TSA N = 44	LC-NoTSA N = 73	NLC-TSA N = 37	NLC-NoTSA N = 61
Age
Mean; SD	70; 8	67; 10	67; 10	66; 11
Gender, N (%)
Women	22 (50)	41 (56)	20 (54)	23 (38)
Men	22 (50)	32 (44)	17 (46)	38 (62)
Smoking status, N (%)
Smoker	23 (52)	26 (36)	13 (35)	13 (22)
Former smoker	19 (43)	39 (53)	15 (41)	27 (45)
Never smoker	2 (5)	8 (11)	9 (24)	20 (33)
Missing data	–	–	–	1
Oral problems, N (%)
Yes	11 (25)	18 (25)	20 (54)*	14 (23)
None	33 (75)	55 (75)	17 (46)	47 (77)
Tumor type
NSCLC	35 (80)	59 (81)	–	–
SCLC	4 (9)	4 (5)	–	–
Other	5 (11)	10 (14)	–	–
Disease stage
I-IIIA	21 (47)	37 (51)	–	–
IIIB-IV	23 (53)	35 (49)	–	–
Missing data	–	1	–	–

Bonferroni correction was performed.

LC-TSA: patients with primary lung cancer reporting TSAs; LC-NoTSA: patients with primary lung cancer not reporting TSAs; NLC-TSA: patients without cancer reporting TSAs; NLC-NoTSA: patients without cancer not reporting TSAs; NSCLC, non small-cell lung cancer; SCLC, small-cell lung cancer.

*Statistically significant difference between NLC-TSA and LC-TSA and between NLC-TSA and NLC-NoTSA.

Table III. Taste and smell alterations and lung cancer diagnosis in relation to weight change, weight loss, changes in food intake and presence of symptoms interfering with food intake.

	LC-TSA N = 44	LC-NoTSA N = 73	NLC-TSA N = 37	NLC-NoTSA N = 61
Percent six month weight change
Median	− 5.5^A	0	0	0
p25; p75	− 10.8; 0	− 3.0; 0	− 4.7; 2.0	− 2.0; 0.5
Missing data (N)	1	2	–	3
Weight loss ^1, N (%)
Weight increased, stable or loss < 5%	21 (49)	59 (83)	29 (78)	51 (88)
Weight loss ≥ 5% to < 10%	8 (18)	5 (7)	7 (19)	5 (9)
Weight loss ≥ 10%	14 (33)^A	7 (10)	1 (3)	2 (3)
Missing data	1	2	–	3
Food intake previous month
As usual or more	28 (64)	61 (84)	29 (78)	53 (87)
Less than usual	16 (36)^B	12 (16)	8 (22)	8 (13)
Symptoms interfering with food intake
None	26 (59)	61 (84)	26 (70)	52 (85)
≥ 1 symptom	18 (41)^B	12 (16)	11 (30)	9 (15)

Bonferroni correction was performed.

LC-TSA: Patients with primary lung cancer reporting TSAs; LC-NoTSA: Patients with primary lung cancer not reporting TSAs; NLC-TSA: Patients without cancer reporting TSAs; NLC-NoTSA: Patients without cancer not reporting TSAs.

¹Tests for statistically significant differences were performed between 1) weight loss ≥ 5% to < 10% versus weight increased, stable or loss < 5% and 2) weight loss ≥ 10% versus weight loss ≥ 5% to < 10% and weight increased, stable or loss < 5% combined.

^AStatistically significant difference between LC-TSA and LC-NoTSA and between LC-TSA and NLC-TSA.

^BStatistically significant difference between LC-TSA and LC-NoTSA.

Table IV. Patients with lung cancer grouped into weight loss categories with putative explanatory variables in rows.

	Patients with lung cancer N = 114 (3 missing weight data)
	Weight increased, stable or loss < 5% N = 80 (70%)	Weight loss ≥ 5% to < 10% N = 13 (12%)	Weight loss ≥ 10% N = 21 (18%)
Age, N (%)
39–67	39 (74)	5 (9)	9 (17)
68–89	41 (67)	8 (13)	12 (20)
Gender, N (%)
Women	41 (67)	8 (13)	12 (20)
Men	39 (74)	5 (9)	9 (47)
Tumor type, N (%)
NSCLC	63 (68)	10 (11)	19 (21)
SCLC	6 (86)	–	1 (14)
Other	7 (70)	3 (30)	–
Unverified	4 (80)	–	1 (20)
Disease stage, N (%)
I-IIIA	44 (79)	4 (7)	8 (14)
IIIB-IV	35 (61)	9 (16)	13 (23)
Missing data	1	–	–
Food intake previous month*, N (%)
As usual or more	68 (78)	10 (12)	9 (10)
Less than usual	12 (44.5)	3 (11)	12 (44.5)
Symptoms interfering with food intake*, N (%)
None	66 (77)	10 (11.5)	10 (11.5)
≥ 1	14 (50)	3 (11)	11 (39)
TSAs*, N (%)
Absent	59 (83)	5 (7)	7 (10)
Present	21 (49)	8 (19.5)	14 (32.5)

NSCLC, non small-cell lung cancer; SCLC, small-cell lung cancer; TSAs, taste and smell alterations.

*P-value < 0.05.